North Carolina Part 2

This was the regular scene in the mornings until we unplugged the tvs and separated the kids so they weren't sleeping in the same room any more.

Sunday night we went for a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful night and the kids loved being at the ocean.

Intoxicated is the only really appropriate word I can think of to describe Sylvie on the beach.

To the Beach!

Friday we started for North Carolina. We decided from the outset to let the kids watch as many movies as they wanted to make the trip as easy as possible. And it was pretty easy!

We stayed in a hotel Friday night, which wasn't exactly pleasant, but wasn't terrible, either, and finished the last 3 hours of drive time Saturday morning. After a quick stop by the Food Lion for lunch supplies, we met up with the Rhodi at noon for a picnic lunch and a light house climb. Sylvie made the whole hike by herself.

After the lighthouse, we changed and hit the ocean. We weren't sure what Sylvie would think, but she and Jill seemed to form an instant bond. They held hands and RAN to the water together! They had such a good time, playing in the water, splashing, and being mermaids. We were so glad Jill was there to make the ocean so much fun. Jens and Abbie are old hands with the ocean. They hopped right in and enjoyed the waves. We didn't get back to the house until almost dinner time. It was a great first day.

Florida Part Last

We were happy when Mike joined us in Florida, but after a red-eye flight, he was pretty worn out. So we left him at home and went to the butterfly garden. Grammy got Sylvie a special butterfly dress, and she got Jens a new gator shirt to wear. The kids liked the butterflies, but not as much as I did. I could have stayed another hour!

That night we went to Satchel's for pizza, which is always delicious. The junk sculptures just keep growing, and I saw one of my old students there waiting tables, which was fun.

We had such a nice, relaxing time in Florida. We will definitely do that again!

Florida Outings with Grammy

Jens and Grammy had a couple special outings while we were in Florida. One morning they got up early and went back to La Chua trail. Without all of us slow pokes they got to walk a lot further and see more fun things. They took pictures of every bug they saw, which I am not going to share with you here. They saw gators and egrets, a turtle and a mouse.

One day they rode to UF campus, a 6 mile round trip. They got a smoothie and stopped to take some pictures with the gator.

Florida Part 2

The La Chua trail was HOT! Sylvie didn't like it all that much because she doesn't like being hot, but Jens loved seeing everything, especially the bugs. There were tons of gators out (blech) and we even saw a baby gator on the trail in front of us. We also saw a fawn drinking from the water. Luckily it didn't get chomped.

The pool occupied most of our afternoons. I kept thinking it would wear Jens out, but it didn't seem to. He is a good little swimmer now, which makes swimming with him a much more pleasant/less fearful experience. Papa taught Jens to dive and he really took to it--he seems to be a natural diver!